Artist: Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard
Album: One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Music from Kerouac's Big Sur
Label: F-Stop/Atlantic
Genre: Folk, alt-country
Comments: Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt) and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) pull a Wilco/Billy Bragg-style move on One Fast Move or I'm Gone, the soundtrack to the new documentary film of the same name. Jay and Ben convert lyrics and poems written by Beat genuis Jack Kerouac, who died forty years ago this year, and to lovely little pop songs. The tunes are lush and gorgeous -- a fine cadre of Americana acoustic guitar-chugging, slide-playing, and piano key-striking -- and complement Kerouac's sprawling ruminations on the West quite nicely.
Like a Death Cab/Son Volt split, the songs fit better together than you might initially imagine and some of the best songs on here feature crack playing and sining by Jay and Ben ("All in One"). I betray my own folk-rock alliances by preferring the Gibbard-fronted tunes just a little bit, but with Farrar taking far more of the songwriting credits, his orchestrations can't be overlooked and suit Keroauc's words well. A wonderful collaboration from these three fine American wordsmiths.
Start with "California Zephyr" and "These Roads Don't Move."
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